The Beginning, The End
by sinamour
Summary: A fantasy of what could have happened when Sasuke finally realizes the truth of Itachi's betrayal, as well as how Naruto would react to the death of his master. One shot.


Author's note: Do not own Naruto.

Author's note [2]: Written some time ago when I was fantasizing about what _**might**_ and _**could**_ have happened when Sasuke found out about the truth that was Uchiha Itachi's betrayal.

"Tell me, baa-chan."

It broke Tsunade's heart when the frog messenger from Jiraiya had come to her forlornly, disclosing to her her old team mate's fate. She had been hoping against hope; against everything, that Jiraiya would survive this. If he came home safe this time, she had sworn to herself that she would never send him on another S-rank spying mission ever again.

Never ever again.

There would not have been a need then.

They had a chance at beating the shit out of Akatsuki – of Paine; assumed leader of said organisation – if Jiraiya had managed to come home with the much-needed information. They still can. Konoha now knew Paine for who and what he is. But to get that information, Jiraiya had sacrificed himself.

Sacrificed himself, and fell, deep, deep, deep into one of the numerous pools of puddle in Paine's territory.

"No."

"Tell me. I want to know who killed him."

"No. Jiraiya would not want me to."

She would not tell Naruto who killed his master, or any details at all.

"I don't care."

"So what?"

She cannot tell, because if she told the boy, then he would…he would run off –

"Baa-chan. Even if you don't tell me, I have my own suspicion."

"Like you put it yourself, it's nothing more than your own suspicion. It's not confirmed."

She cannot tell, because –

"And my suspicions and instincts have never proved me wrong so far."

"And so you're willing to bet everything you have – all your years of training and effort – just for that animal-like instinct of yours?"

– because she would really, really break if –

"Yes, I am. Because this is not just about avenging his death. It's not just for him. It's for me. It's for Konoha. It's for everyone who knew him. It's for…you. Because I know how much you want to go out and rage and kill, but cannot because you have the village as priority. Because I know how much you want, but can't, so I will do it for you."

He left.

[.]

Sasuke gazed from the cliff that he stood from. He looked, and he stared, and he saw. Saw all the things, physical and mental, that he had missed. He watched, and he blinked, and he gazed.

He mourned. He mourned for all that he had lost, and mourned for the things that he was afraid his past actions will bring. It was strange, to say the least, but to Sasuke, his past two years and a half – nearly three – suddenly seemed very vague. Like a dream.

And the raven boy was a sleeper waking up from a nightmare.

Again, it was strange, to say the least, but all of a sudden, Sasuke felt a sense of liberation. It felt like he could finally breathe and see things from his own eyes, not trapped in his mind and forced to watch through a window. Yes, it was true that Sasuke had chosen this path of life three years ago when he decided to join Orochimaru, but it did not mean that he had to be very aware of everything that was going on around him.

For him, for Sasuke, for the last Uchiha standing on the face of earth, the clearest thing that was as clear as crystal was his brother's betrayal, but even that was gone too. Itachi's death, and then Madara's final confession to the fact that Itachi had been forced to do what he had done made his clear water muddy.

In the end, everything was uncertain, but in that confusion, Uchiha Sasuke finally woke up from his slumber of revenge with his brother's blessings. And in the course of his "adventure", Sasuke found himself to have acquired sudden nirvana and revelation.

His dreams, the wind; his hopes, the sun; his desire, the water; his everything, the world. He became aware of it all.

"Are you planning to do anything now? If you're not, the offer to Akatsuki is still open."

Sasuke blinked, both at the sun, and at the suddenness of the suggestion. He knew what his answer would be already, but the last Uchiha chose to stay silent for a while. It was not for dramatic effect, it was not for his own brooding – it was just for the sake of silence.

"Thank you, Madara. But I have a brother to save."

The new Uchiha Sasuke was much more polite and vocal, Madara decided.

[.]

"You have guts to barge in here alone."

Naruto hated the pierced face. He hated the flaming-yet-not-flaming hair. He hated the calm and cold pose. But he especially hated the eyes. It reminded him of layer cakes. Layers and layers and layers of moulded hatred – desire for sweet revenge.

Never had he hated someone so badly.

"Paine, I will kill you."

A smirk. Naruto hated that too. It reminded him too much of Sasuke whom he let slip through his fingers again and again.

"Not so fast…dear brother. Don't you want to bring his body back?"

Never had Kyuubi took over Naruto so quickly before. The seeping explosion of dangerous burgundy chakra - the dilated pupils - the clawed fingers - the darkened cheek whiskers - the sharpened canines – the appearance of four waving tails – it all took less than a few seconds.

Naruto lost himself totally – fully immersed in his power.

And then the fifth tail bubbled out.

The growl after that was never Naruto's. Gentle, caring, but powerful Naruto.

[.]

"You are…Uchiha Sasuke. Uchiha Itachi's younger brother."

Paine was monotonous, taking in the scene in front of him. His fingers throbbed painfully but his heart pulsed pleasantly. He was a ninja through and through. The adrenaline rush always gets to him somehow, just as it gets to all other ninjas and making them sweaty and excited.

Calm black eyes looked at him. So alive with something and yet so dead. So different from Itachi's calm and unrelenting red.

"Yes, I am."

Sasuke's arms tightened, pulling Naruto's prone body protectively towards himself. His calf muscles ached a little from the hurried rush that he had to engage in just to get to the blond in time, but he maintained his squat nonetheless. He knew he could not stand up and carry Naruto off just yet.

Paine had something to tell him; he could sense it hanging in the air.

"The Kyuubi vessel belongs to me now. I defeated him."

Sasuke blinked.

"Why are you helping him? Aren't you supposed to be avoiding him?"

Sasuke blinked again, maintaining his infuriating silence. Strange that Paine would say and ask, of all things, things like these. It was almost like he did not understand life.

"I am helping him because he is my – " a slight pause, "…brother."

Paine cocked a head to the side.

"Is he your brother? He's mine. But is he yours?"

Sasuke frowned, unconsciously rubbing at Naruto's cheek – as if trying to calm the blond down, telling him _Be patient, just a little more. _

"How can he be your brother? You only knew him as an enemy."

"That was sealed a long time ago. Before Naruto was even born, I think."

It was curious how Naruto's brotherhood to both males could be discussed with similar ease as applied to the discussion of the weather. Sasuke shrugged as carefully as he could, without jostling Naruto's battered body. Hearing the shallow breathing of his friend, Sasuke frowned again, and then decided there and then that he was not in the mood to listen and chat with Paine. He was also aware of the hidden shadow of paper butterflies flitting around innocently in the area, but his instincts told him that they were only there to keep an eye on them so that they do not pull any pranks.

Well, Uchihas do not prank. That was Naruto's job. And Naruto was unconscious.

Pulling Naruto up and securing him closer to his body, Sasuke gave a final heave and stood up. Naruto leaned against his chest, bridal-styled. Sasuke found it amusing that he was to carry his friend in the manner – Naruto would kill him if he found out that he had been carried like that. But it cannot be helped. Sasuke was not going to risk _his_ pride and struggle with balancing Naruto's limp while getting him on his back instead.

"Where are you bringing him? I said – the bijuu's mine. I defeated him," Paine's reaction was instantaneous. Sasuke felt the sudden urge to roll his eyes.

"You didn't defeat him. You defeated Kyuubi no Kitsune. Not Naruto."

Paine had the courtesy to let Sasuke leave peacefully, but the raven head's superiority complex caused him to think that the only reason he managed to leave safely was because Paine needed all those time to understand the cryptic Sasuke left.

[.]

The extents of Naruto's injuries were, as usual, incomprehensible. So deep, so serious that no one in Hebi knew how to heal him. None of them were really trained as qualified medic nins anyway. Sure, they knew how to cure their own damages to some point, but Naruto's wounds were not ordinary. His wounds were wounds of massive sacrifice on his own body –

_Did he suffered this much too when I fought him?_

– of accumulated stress on his chakra system –

_Did I hurt him this much too?_

– of on-the-spur-of-the-moment decisions to attack –

_Was he so close to –_

"– death."

Sasuke looked at the unnamed, faceless medic nin tending smilingly to the blond on the bed. He was so lifeless, almost mummy-like. Short gasps of breath flowed through Naruto's slightly parted, parched lips, instead of the long steady, breaths a normal sleeping person would have.

"Excuse me?"

Faceless medic nin looked up and smiled a infatuated smile.

"He was very close to the brink of death. It was lucky that you got him here on time."

Sasuke blinked, and then nodded before he turned his gaze back at the figure on the bed. His obsidian eyes flitted across shut lids and the slight frown on his friend's young face. So unlike his own. Sasuke thought that he himself looked rather old now. From all the things he had to go through – but no matter. That made him more mature, no? Perhaps he would now have a better reason to gloat over the blond when he wakes up. The raven's pale lips nearly quirked at that thought. How irritated Naruto would be then.

The sudden assault of Naruto's twitching and enraged posture – pouting and stamping his feet like a child – made him skip the quirk of his lips and jumped directly to a full blown laughter. He doubled over and clutched at his sides, unable to lower down his volume of mirth.

Infatuated medic nin quickly scooted away, suddenly aware of the possibility of Sasuke being a man of jumbled neurons. But Sasuke never saw it, nor did he saw her moving out of the room. Only later, when he had regained himself did he wonder when she left. But even so, he only spent less than a fraction of a second on her before turning back to his charge.

[.]

It was night. Naruto slept alone in his room, still breathing shallowly. Darkness surrounded him – not even the full moon hanging merrily in the clear sky could penetrate it. It wrapped around the blond, and if one were imaginative enough, they would easily see fingers desperately reaching out to clutch at Naruto. But the blond was not so brightly born for no reason.

In that room, he glowed in an ethereal cocoon – _we will protect Naruto or die trying!_

The window snapped open. Muffled steps tapped the tiled floors rhythmically. Index and middle finger reached out, and then – _this is a different enemy! We can't fight this one!_ – poked silently at bandaged forehead.

"Wake up, dobe."

Golden strands shifted in disturbance when slim, calloused fingers slipped in to bother the tousled head. Eyelids fluttered. Hazy, glazed sapphires swam into view, but Sasuke knew from the way Naruto kept blinking that said eyes were also very ready to roll back and kick out reality again.

"Come. We shall leave now. It's not worth the time here anymore, now that your condition is stable already."

"Sa…"

"Hm?" Sasuke breathed slow puffs of air over Naruto's face as he leant closer over the boy.

"Sa…suke…"

Sasuke decided that Naruto's nose was too cold. For that matter…pale fingers retreated from blond hair and reached down to grasp at limp fingers.

"You're much too cold, Naruto. We ought to leave now."

"S'su…ke…"

Said boy gathered Naruto's battered body into his arms once more.

"From now on…I will protect you."

In that moment of confession, Sasuke allowed his eyes to tear for his dead brother; his heart to beat in guilt; his mind to blame himself, but another look at the body in his arms brought him back to the current state. His hold tightened, Naruto leaned against his chest.

"I will. I promise. It is…my ninja way."

Only later, when Sasuke had leapt out of the open window and travelled halfway through the town did he realize that Naruto's breathing quickened and slowed according to his heartbeat.


End file.
